Barba had made it very clear from the beginning.

“For the sake of the caseI am playing along.”

Also: “There’s nothingthat I’d rather like to do on a Saturday evening than blowing up prostitutionrings.”

And: “You know I hatelosing.”

So there they are. In the backroom of a rather fancy restaurant, waitingfor the “party” to begin.

When a slick-haired man with bad teeth had asked them to follow afterthey had told him the password of the evening, Carisi had felt Barba next tohim tense up. Of course, the lawyer is not used to circulate between clientsand pimps as one of their own. This is why, following the impulsive need tocalm him down, Carisi had reached for Barba’s hand and dragged him along. Barba’swarm hand had fitted perfectly into his. Carisi’s heart had been in his mouthwhen they had entered the room holding hands, like a real couple would. Thus,for the sake of their case they had made the right entrance.

“Don’t be so handsy”, Barba had whispered all the same when he had letgo of Carisi’s hand.

If the whole situation wouldn’t be as awful as it is – with them tryingto stop a human trafficking ring -, Carisi would like to enjoy the unusualsituation that the ADA is caught up in an undercover situation. With him. Morespecifically with him as his husband.

Carisi is screwed.

He knew he was going to be screwed the moment Barba had walked up to himlooking like this. Illegally handsomein his simple black-white combination.

As the evening goes along, Carisi finds Barba to play his role well.Smiling charmingly, making easy small-talk all the while swirling his Scotchglass in his hand.

Following a sudden wish to impress the prosecutor with his ownundercover skills, Carisi shows teeth for his most confident smile and easilyplaces his arm around Barba’s shoulder. By the touch Carisi’s body immediatelyheats up from head to toe. To his dismay Carisi cannot deny that his fantasy,Barba in his arms, somehow feels incredibly right.

While their dialog partners obviously believe the act, Barba howeverlater murmurs to him: “Don’t get so touchy.”

Their undercover mission suddenly threatens to go downhill when afamiliar face enters the party. A very familiar face. Indeed, a face that theysee very often in the courthouse. No one else than Judge Spacey seems to be aclient at this party.

Both Barba and Carisi had a little camera hidden in one of theirbuttons, but they had no way to communicate to with the squad outside as theyhad to hand off their phones for security reasons before entering the party.Obviously, they want to catch Judge Spacey on the party which is why it iscrucial that he wouldn’t recognize Barba and Carisi and clear off before thespecial unit busts the scene.

In an epiphany Carisi says to Barba: “Kiss me.”

Barba looks at Carisi with eyes widened in shock. “No!”

“There is no other way”, Carisi insists.

“I’m not gonna kiss you.”

Out of the corner of their eyes while trying to hide their faces, theysee Judge Spacey moving along the room coming dangerously close to them.

So Barba steps close to Carisi. He wraps his arms around Carisi’s waistand approaches his lips. Carisi’s breath hitches, his heart raises impossiblyfast.

“Don’t get slippy”, Barba whispers hotly against his mouth before hecloses the gap.

And suddenly, Carisi forgets everything around him. Barba lips feel alot softer than he had imagined. They press so gently against his that Carisifor a moment fears that his knees will give way. And Barba smells about asamazing as Carisi had imagined, like elegant cologne, like Scotch and most ofall very manly. It’s so intoxicating that his mind stops working. Their lipsmove so beautifully in sync against each other that Carisi doesn’t even realizewhen he naturally slips the tongue.

The moment it happens, Carisi stops short.

But to his surprise, Barba keeps kissing him.

He parts his lips and entangles Carisi’s tongue with his own.

Carisi doesn’t know for how long, but they get lost in the kiss. Carisieven dares to touch Barba at his shoulders.

What finally pulls them out of their trance is someone screaming: “NYPD.Nobody moves!” When everyone starts screaming around them, they still partslowly, keeping their eyes locked with each other.